The cause of the explosion is not yet known. The fire caused by the explosion has been extinguished.
20:43•Updated 21:04
An explosion has occurred in the gas pipeline running between Lithuania and Latvia, says Amber Grid, the company responsible for the natural gas transmission network in Lithuania.
Amber Grid announcement (you will switch to another service) according to the explosion occurred in the Pasvalys municipal district in the northern part of Lithuania on Friday around 5:00 p.m.
Lithuanian Broadcasting Corporation of the LRT (you transfer to another service) according to the explosion happened in the village of Pasvalio Vienkiemiai. The neighboring village of Valakėliai was evacuated due to the explosion.
According to preliminary information, no one was injured in the explosion, as the explosion took place far from residential buildings, the company informs.
According to Amber Grid, the explosion occurred in one of the two parallel gas pipelines. The other pipe was not damaged, and gas is flowing through it normally.
The gas supply through the damaged gas pipe was stopped immediately.
According to Amber Grid, the fire brigade arrived at the scene of the accident quickly, and the fire caused by the explosion has been extinguished.
The cause of the explosion is not known for sure
According to a preliminary assessment, Amber Grid does not suspect vandalism as the cause of the explosion, but the investigation will take all possibilities into account.
According to the Baltic news agency BNS, the exploded gas pipeline carries natural gas from the Lithuanian port city of Klapeida to Latvia. According to BNS, the energy minister of Latvia For Raimonds Cudars it would have been reported that the cause of the explosion was a technical accident.
According to local residents, work was done near the gas pipe explosion site earlier in the day, the mayor of the Pasvalys municipal district Gintautas Gegužinskas tells LRT.
Amber Grid says that it will inform about the cause of the explosion in more detail when it has received more information about the incident.
– We apologize for the incident that happened in the gas pipe system. We immediately started to find out the causes of the incident and ensure the delivery of gas to consumers, CEO of Amber Grid Nemunas Biknius tells.
Story updated on January 13, 2023 at 9:03 p.m. The story has been updated with information from the Baltic news agency BNS about the incident.
Sources: AP, Reuters